Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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Have a safe day!

Tuesday, July 10
Noon
Undergraduate Lecture Series - One West
Speaker: Thomas Kroc, Fermilab, and Mark Pankuch, Central DuPage Hospital
Title: The Clinical Use of Particle Beams: Neutron and Proton Radiotherapy

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

4 p.m.
Special Fermilab Colloquium (NOTE DATE) - One West
Speaker: Dan Green, Fermilab
Title: Fermilab: Life on the Energy Frontier

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY

Wednesday, July 11
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: Glen Marshall, TRIUMF
Title: Muon Decay Parameters and the TWIST Experiment

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Wilson Hall Cafe

Tuesday, July 10

- Breakfast: bagel sandwich
- Tomato bisque soup
- Rio Grande taco salad
- Liver & onions
- Korean garlic chicken
- Lemon pepper club
- Grilled chicken Caesar salad wrap
- Assorted calzones

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, July 11
Lunch
- Salmon w/ cucumber cream sauce
- Rice pilaf
- Lemon-coconut cake

Friday, July 13
Dinner
- Insalata caprese on a skewer
- Stuffed flank steak
- Balsamic roasted potatoes
- Chocolate-amaretto soufflé

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Milestone

Business Services Section Head Dave Carlson set to retire after 34 years

Dave Carlson

It was Monday, January 16, 1978.

Fresh out of college, Dave Carlson pulled up to Fermilab for his first day of work as a visiting technician. As he parked his blue 1968 Camaro RS convertible in the lot and made his way to Lab 3, he figured he'd be at the laboratory for about a year before heading to graduate school and then on to work in the oil industry.

But something got in the way.

While helping to build an apparatus for the E356 neutrino experiment, Carlson decided he wanted to stay on as a permanent employee - so much so that he convinced two Fermilab physicists to take a walk down to the high-rise horseshoe to check out the engine he had recently rebuilt in the Camaro. As it turns out, Carlson's technical skills were quite apparent in the engine rebuild, and the physicists were impressed enough to hire him.

"From that day on, the laboratory just kept giving me more and more interesting things to do," said Carlson, who has worked on the CDF experiment and held positions in the former Physics Section, Research Division, and the Business Services Section, most recently as section head.

"Dave's enthusiasm, diligence and hard work - plus a '68 Camaro - have served both him and the lab very well," said Bruce Chrisman, Fermilab's recent COO. "Dave always dived into great depths with every subject he encountered. I have relied on his knowledge and candor to keep me from straying too far afield in my efforts to support the science of the lab. He has set very high expectations for the head of Business Services."

Carlson says he's enjoyed working at a place where so much discovery is always taking place.

"One of the most rewarding parts of my job has been getting a chance to interact face-to-face with so many incredibly smart and talented people, including the wonderful physicists who took the time to explain to me what was happening at Fermilab in a way I could understand," Carlson said. "One thing you can count on is that there is always something new and exciting just around the corner."

Carlson's plans for retirement include traveling to the mountains with his wife and volunteering for a local not-for-profit organization that is near and dear to his heart, Little Angels Center for Exceptional Care in Elgin.

Carlson's last day will be July 13.

And, in case you were wondering, he still has the '68 Camaro.

Deb Sebastian

The Business Services Section is hosting a retirement celebration for Carlson from 2 to 4 p.m. today on the Wilson Hall 15th-floor south crossover.

From symmetry breaking

Higgs in perspective; looking back to 1964

John Kemeny (left) and Thomas Kurtz launched their BASIC computing language at Dartmouth College in 1964. Photo courtesy of Dartmouth Library

Last week, scientists revealed that they may have found the long-sought Higgs boson. This is no small accomplishment. Theorists first predicted the particle in several papers published in 1964.

But scientists needed huge strides in accelerator, detector and computing technology to arrive at the point of possibly being able to observe it today, almost 50 years later.

To put the length of the search for the Higgs boson in perspective, take a look at what else was happening back in 1964:

Read more

In the News

Fox Valley Rep's Collider Project offers stage to science-themed plays

From Kane County Chronicle, July 7, 2012

ST. CHARLES - John Gawlik understands that, to some people, particle physics and theater may seem to be polar opposites.

But as Gawlik sees it, that just opens greater opportunities for those who excel in each field to learn from each other.

And that is why Gawlik, artistic director for the St. Charles-based Fox Valley Repertory Theater, believes that great opportunities will open as a result of his theater company's newfound collaboration with Fermilab on one of the region's newest summer live theater events.

Read more
In the News

Stephen Hawking and Higgs boson bet in spotlight as physicists hail CERN particle discovery

From The Huffington Post, July 4, 2012

GENEVA -- Scientists at the world's biggest atom smasher hailed the discovery of "the missing cornerstone of physics" Wednesday, cheering the apparent end of a decades-long quest for a new subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, or "God particle," which could help explain why all matter has mass and crack open a new realm of subatomic science.

First proposed as a theory in the 1960s, the maddeningly elusive Higgs had been hunted by at least two generations of physicists who believed it would help shape our understanding of how the universe began and how its most elemental pieces fit together.

Read more
Director's Corner

A path forward for LBNE

Fermilab Director
Pier Oddone

DOE Office of Science Director Bill Brinkman has written me a letter supporting the reconfiguration of LBNE and requesting us to proceed to CD-1. The CD-1 review will take place at the end of October, followed by the formal approval of CD-1 towards the end of this calendar year. We appreciate very much the strong support of the Office of Science for the directions established by the 2008 HEPAP Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5). The P5's plan along the three frontiers, including a leadership role for the United States at the Intensity Frontier, has been well received beyond the DOE. Stabilizing the LBNE situation now with a viable and affordable option will make it possible to explain our path forward to Congress and the White House's Office of Management and Budget and to obtain their support for FY13 and beyond.

The reconfiguration effort yielded three viable options, with a preferred option to develop a new beamline at Fermilab that will send neutrinos to Homestake and to place a 10-kiloton liquid-argon detector on the surface at Homestake. The interim report of the LBNE reconfiguration steering committee was published in June, and feedback is being solicited through July 15 from the physics community. The analysis of the operation of a detector on the surface at Homestake will take place over the next few months and requires careful study and design. Surface operation would clearly be only the first phase of a long-term program that will ultimately use a larger detector underground and Project X to achieve the full goals of LBNE.

While the preferred configuration fits the budget guideline for DOE expenses, it would postpone operation of a detector underground, potentially missing some important early physics. Underground operation remains highly desirable scientifically. It is still within reach of the first phase if enough resources from non-DOE sources can be gathered. We foresee a major effort starting now and continuing through the CD-2 review and approval process in late 2014 to gather LBNE partners and support, including from India and European countries; state agencies and supporters in Illinois and South Dakota; and institutions supported by the NSF that are working on LBNE.

For all practical purposes this CD-1 review is around the corner and will require a peak effort in the next few months from everyone involved, be it on the beam and detector designs or the continuing physics studies necessary for credible operation on the surface. We have a clear path forward.

Construction Update

LArTF concrete cylinder nears completion

Construction of the Liquid Argon Test Facility concrete cylinder is nearing completion. Photo: Cindy Arnold

The construction of the Liquid Argon Test Facility continues at the Fermi Booster Neutrino Line, just upstream of the MiniBooNE facility. The concrete cylinder, seen in the photo above, is nearing completion. It extends 45 feet below ground level and 24 feet above, and will house the future liquid argon detector for the MicroBooNE experiment.

Preparations are under way to construct three attached ground-level structures. These will provide a loading and receiving area, provide a room for the experiment's electronic and house fire suppression control and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

The work for the entire facility structure is nearing 40 percent completion and is on schedule for beneficial occupancy by the MicroBooNE experiment on March 15, 2013.

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Latest Announcements

NALWO tour and luncheon - July 19

Scottish country dancing in Ramsey Auditorium - today

Earned Value Management course - today and tomorrow

International Folk Dancing moves to Ramsey Auditorium - July 12

Volunteers invited to Fermilab prairie quadrat study - July 12 and 28

Louisiana roots band Red Stick Ramblers - July 14

Collider New Play Project - July 14 and 21

EAP Webinar, "Do I Have Enough? Saving for Retirement" - July 17

Collecting school supplies - through July 27

ANSYS courses offered in July and August

Howard Levy & Chris Siebold - August 18

Project Management Introduction class - Sept. 10-14

Fermilab Management Practices Seminar - begins Oct. 4

Interpersonal communication skills training - Nov. 14

Outdoor soccer - Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 p.m.

Fermilab employee discounts

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